Getting started
How to start a home bakery in New Zealand: the cake exemption, national programmes, IRD and your first month
Start a home bakery in New Zealand: whether the MPI cake exemption covers you, when you need a Food Control Plan or National Programme, and GST at $60,000.
the ibakepro team ·
To start a home bakery in New Zealand, first work out whether you are a home-based maker or decorator of shelf-stable cakes selling direct to consumers. If you are, a Food Notice issued by MPI on 30 October 2025 exempts you from registering a Food Control Plan or National Programme until 31 October 2028, though you must still follow good hygiene practice, trace your ingredients and be able to recall food. If you sell anything else, such as bread, biscuits, cream cakes or other bakery products, you register under the Food Act 2014, usually with your council: National Programme 2 for shelf-stable grain products such as bread and biscuits, or a Food Control Plan for a retail bakery with cream or custard. Then tell Inland Revenue you are self-employed, get a free NZBN, and register for GST once turnover reaches $60,000.
How the exemption compares with other countries is in home baking laws by state and country, and the questions to ask your regulator are in do I need a license to sell cakes from home. MPI's and your council's pages are the authority; check with them before you rely on any step here.
Step 1: check whether the cake exemption covers you
The exemption applies only if every one of these is true:
| Test | Covered | Not covered |
|---|---|---|
| What you make | Cakes, or decorating cakes | Bread, cookies, slices, pastries, pies, other bakery products |
| Shelf-stable | Safe at room temperature until eaten, or eaten within 3 to 5 days without refrigeration | Fresh cream, custard, cheesecake, anything needing the fridge |
| Where | Your home kitchen | A hired or commercial kitchen |
| Who buys | The person eating it, or buying for them | Cafes, shops or anyone reselling; export |
A buttercream or ganache celebration cake, a fondant wedding cake and a tray of iced cupcakes sold to a customer are the core case. A loaf of sourdough is not, and neither is a cream sponge.
If you are exempt, you must still:
- operate under good hygiene practice, including making sure anyone handling the food is competent to do it
- tell MPI if something is wrong with a product that is likely to be an immediate threat to public health
- be able to trace where your ingredients came from
- manage a recall if one is needed
Those last two mean records: which batch of flour, butter and decorations went into which customer's cake. Keep them from the first order.
The exemption runs out on 31 October 2028. Plan as if you may need to register after that.
Step 2: if you are not exempt, find your plan or programme
Under the Food Act 2014 your products set your risk level, and your risk level sets what you register:
- National Programme 2 covers lower-risk manufacturers, including bakeries that make only bread, and makers of shelf-stable grain products such as biscuits and crackers. A home sourdough baker or biscuit maker usually lands here.
- A Food Control Plan is for higher-risk food. MPI publishes a template for specialist retail bakeries, because products with cream or custard can support harmful bacteria. Fresh cream and custard fillings must be kept at 5°C or colder.
MPI's website has an online tool that asks about your products and tells you which one applies. Run it with your full menu, not just your best seller, because one cream product can move the whole business up a level.
Step 3: register with your council
For most home bakers the registration authority is your local council. Registration, verification and any renewal fees are set by each council, so get them from your council's food business pages before you budget. Ask:
- Is my home kitchen suitable for my plan or programme?
- Do I need resource consent to run a food business from home?
- Who verifies me, how often, and what does each visit cost?
Auckland Council and other councils publish home-based food business guides with their own expectations for the kitchen. Exempt cake makers do not register, but it is still worth asking your council whether it wants to know you exist, and checking district plan rules on home businesses.
Step 4: set up the kitchen
Whether exempt or registered, the practical standard is the same:
- hand washing with warm water, soap and single-use towels, available while you work
- business ingredients stored apart from household food
- pets out of the kitchen during production
- a fridge thermometer and a log, if anything you make needs refrigeration
- clean, then sanitise, benches and equipment before each bake
- a batch record linking ingredients to orders, which is your recall plan
Step 5: allergens and labels
New Zealand and Australia share the Food Standards Code, so plain English allergen labelling applies to your packaged food. Allergens are named in bold in the ingredient list using the required names (wheat, milk, egg, soy, sesame, peanut, almond, and so on), with a separate "Contains" summary statement. For unpackaged food, such as a custom cake in a box, allergen information must be displayed with the food or available on request. Keep a written allergen list for every product.
Step 6: IRD, NZBN and GST
- IRD. Tell Inland Revenue you are working for yourself through myIR, or get an IRD number first if you do not have one. You file an individual income tax return including your bakery profit.
- Provisional tax. Not in your first year unless your previous year's residual income tax was over $5,000. After that, you pay provisional tax if you had more than $5,000 to pay at the end of the year.
- NZBN. Optional but recommended, and free for sole traders. Most applications are processed instantly with a New Zealand driver licence or passport. Use it on invoices to cafes and stockists.
- GST. Register if your turnover was at least $60,000 in the last 12 months, or you expect it to be at least $60,000 in the next 12. Below that, registration is voluntary.
Set aside a share of every payment for tax from the first order, and keep every receipt for ingredients, packaging and equipment.
Step 7: insurance
Markets, venues and cafes usually ask for public liability cover before they will deal with you, and product liability covers a customer who falls ill from what you sold. Tell your home and contents insurer you run a food business from home, since many policies limit business activity. Premiums depend on your products and turnover, so get two or three quotes.
Step 8: price your first products
Cost every product from what you paid: ingredients, packaging, your hours at a wage you would accept, then margin. Worked examples in NZ dollars: cake prices by country, cake pricing calculator, how to price cookies for a cookie business and how to price sourdough bread. If you expect to reach $60,000, decide now whether your prices will include GST once you register.
Step 9: orders and deposits
Write your order terms before you advertise: lead time, deposit, balance date, cancellation and pickup or delivery. For custom cakes, 50 percent at booking and the balance 7 to 14 days before the event is the common structure; see how much deposit for a custom cake and the cake order terms template. Exempt cake makers can sell only direct to consumers, so turn down cafe and reseller orders until you are registered.
Your first-month checklist
| Week | Do |
|---|---|
| Before week 1 | Menu run through the exemption table; MPI's online rules tool if not exempt |
| Week 1 | IRD told you are self-employed; NZBN; council contacted if you need to register |
| Week 2 | Kitchen set up; batch and ingredient tracing record started; insurance quotes |
| Week 3 | Allergen list for every product; labels for anything packaged |
| Week 4 | Prices costed; order terms written; first orders |
| Ongoing | Turnover tracked against $60,000; diary note to review before 31 October 2028 |
Where ibakepro fits
ibakepro is bakery management software for New Zealand bakers, from an exempt home cake maker to a bakery with staff on a Food Control Plan. The trace and recall the exemption still asks for is on record: each recipe lists the pantry items that go into it, and each order shows what was made and the customer who bought it. Deposits and balances are taken in New Zealand dollars, GST at 15 percent is added once you register, and Growth and Business keep the temperature, cleaning and corrective action records a verifier reviews. Essentials is NZ$29 a month, Growth NZ$37 and Business NZ$100, with a 14-day free trial. See allergen management, payment schedules and deposits and Compliance.